Driver and passenger safety on highways, rural roads, urban streets, and the like is of great concern as more and more people are present in automobiles, trucks, buses, and other vehicles. Statistically, a certain number of mishaps occur over any given time period, and most of these mishaps require summoning law enforcement and/or medical personnel to the site of a crash, collision, or other misfortune. While travel in heavily populated areas or on heavily used thoroughfares generally assures the presence of assistance in calling for help, such is not necessarily the case when travel is in more desolate regions. For this reason many people have radio communications devices in their vehicles so that assistance can be summoned.
Communications devices require an antenna linkage for broadcasting and an antenna placement that provides signal transmission. Therefore, if an antenna is not properly placed or is shielded, no transmission can occur. An example of such an event would be found in a typical automobile having a top surface with an antenna mounted thereon. If that automobile rolls over and comes to rest on its top, its antenna would be shielded from a transmission site and no signal could be generated from the disabled vehicle. It is obvious that such an event could be very serious or fatal for an occupant of the vehicle who is injured and who cannot call for help because a transmitting antenna is blocked between the top surface of the rolled-over car and the ground.
In view of the potential seriousness of inadequate transmittability of messages from a vehicle because of an untoward orientation of an antenna associated with the vehicle, it is apparent that a need is present for proper antenna presence at the vehicle. Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle with a communications transmitter device from which transmissions can occur irrespective of the spatial orientation of the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle having an antenna disposed at a top site thereof and another disposed at a bottom site thereof, such that an overturned orientation will not disrupt signal transmission.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle communication system having a plurality of antennas each in association with a communications transmitter device within the vehicle.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent throughout the description of the invention which now follows.